LEDs, or light emitting diodes, are eroding the market for conventional light bulbs. From flashlights, to automobile lights and home lighting, LEDs are replacing old bulb technology.
The reason for switching to LEDs is efficiency. LEDs convert electrical energy to light with less wasted power as compared to older technologies, but do so using a very different structure. Rather than a filament that heats and produces light, each LED is a semiconductor. Because LEDs are semiconductors, LEDs are heat-sensitive. The result is an operating temperature much lower than conventional bulbs, and thus heat dissipation becomes a concern.
A conventional bulb may operate at hundreds of degrees Celsius, where an LED cannot operate above eighty degrees, or sometimes sixty degrees, Celsius. Operating at higher temperatures shortens the expected lifetime of an LED.
While LEDs are efficient, the quantity of waste heat produced increases as the LED light output grows. Heat dissipation is a minor issue in small LEDs, as the light output is low and the heat easily dissipated. But for large light outputs, using two or more high-output LEDs, the heat buildup becomes a problem.
What is needed is a light fixture that can dissipate the large quantity of heat generated by two or more high-powered LEDs.